DocumentCloud is updating its Terms of Service, and we’re giving our users time to review the update before it takes effect on May 25, 2016.

Before we highlight what’s new, we’d like to express our deepest gratitude to Dalia Topelson Ritvo and students at Harvard Law School‘s Cyberlaw Clinic, based at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. The Cyberlaw Clinic gave our team invaluable assistance in writing our updated Terms of Service, along the way giving us outstanding guidance on legal best practices and answering many questions. Thank you!

DocumentCloud’s Terms of Service has remained relatively unchanged since we launched in 2010. Over time, we’ve added a number of features, and consequently users have found new ways to use DocumentCloud. This update better reflects DocumentCloud’s services today, and we’ll continue to update it as our services evolve.

Highlights of changes and additions:

Overall, we’ve updated the document’s organization and its language to reflect best practices for software products as well as current DocumentCloud features and capabilities.

Real names and email addresses are required for accounts. We allow one shared account per organization for organization-wide use, which can have an organization name. We also allow one machine account for automation or API use. (Section 2.2)

We specify that you may not sell, rent, or otherwise offer the Services to others without DocumentCloud’s prior written consent. (Section 3, paragraph (b))

We prohibit using DocumentCloud in any way that interferes with the operation of the service, impacts or harasses any other user, or circumvents our security protections. (Section 3, paragraph (m))

You represent that you have the right to contribute your content to DocumentCloud, and you grant us a license to that content in order for us to deliver our services. (Section 5)

We clarify that when you delete a document, we also delete it from our platform. If you redact a document, we erase all data related to the redacted information, create a new redacted document, and delete the original. (Section 7.1)

Thank you for reading through these points, and we encourage you to read our updated Terms of Service plus ourPrivacy Policy and API Guidelines and Terms of Service. We’re proud to provide a platform that contributes to greater transparency in reporting and helps you find and tell great stories in documents. We expect our Terms to continue to evolve as the platform does, so check back to stay informed about updates.